Wilmer Valderrama is sharing some insight into Special Agent Nick Torres’ fate.
The NCIS star, 46, spoke with PEOPLE at a screening for Suárez at the 2026 Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival, where he explained what’s in store for his NCIS character after season 23 ended on a cliffhanger in May.
In the finale episode, “Sons and Daughters,” Valderrama’s Torres and McGee’s son Mateo (Patrick Keleher) are in an alley together when gunshots ring out. The season ended without any confirmation on who shot whom and even Valderrama asked showrunners what happened to his character next.
“To be honest, I don’t think we figured that one out yet,” he says. “I don’t think we have an idea yet. I asked, ‘What do we want from it,’ but I will tell you that someone does get hit and people might not like it.”
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Still, Valderrama says he has his own theories.
“Look, every couple of years, you guys know NCIS has to make sure you’re watching. So we shake up the TV a little bit and we listen,” he says. “And we listen to where you as fans want to see us do. So we always really pay attention to what our fans want to really experience on the show.”
He adds, “So if you ask me to speculate, I think there’s a major, major shakeup happening and that episode one is going to bring both … I don’t want to get in trouble for this one. Let me get in trouble. How about this? Next season, there’s some major changes and there are some major additions. What does that mean for Torres? I can only hope that he makes it out alive.”
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NCIS showrunner Steven D. Binder spoke with TV Insider about the surprise ending back in May, confirming that “someone was hit” in the final scene.
“I sort of had my fill this season, all of us, of killing people. So I can rule that out,” Binder said. “And also, there’s not a lot of fun there. When someone’s dead, they’re dead.”
He added, “It’s much more interesting — I’ll think back to when Gibbs shot McGee. It’s much more fun when someone’s alive and been shot than when they’re dead. And by fun, I mean, interesting.”
As for Valderrama’s latest project, Suárez tells the story of NASCAR’s Daniel Suárez, who became the first Mexican-born driver to win a Cup Series race. Suárez brought “a level of dynamic in storytelling to NASCAR that felt really inviting,” Valderrama says. The documentary is directed by Mario Diaz and executive produced by Valderrama.
Valderrama confirmed earlier this year that NCIS had been renewed for a 24th season. The actor boarded the series in 2016 for its 14th season, later revealing at the 2024 Monte-Carlo Television Festival in Monaco how he’d want Torres to die in the long-running primetime drama if that were his fate. “Like Denzel Washington in Training Day — just go out,” Valderrama said, referring to the 2001 film in which Washington’s Detective Alonzo Harris died in a blaze of machine gun fire.
“I think not being the bad guy [like Harris was], of course I’d like to die as a good guy,” he added. “But defending my family somehow, just in a storm of bullets, I just see a storm of bullets just washing over me, just dying heroically with violins in the background and the rain is pouring.”
All seasons of NCIS are available to stream on Paramount+.